Budgeting Interview

Ryan Tippetts- works at Nu Skin

1. What are some things you account for in your budget? (employee salary, office items, insurance…)
   Employee salary and office supplies/computers are our largest expense in the budget. Other things we budget for include utilities, employee insurance, building insurance and maintenance, cost of hiring and training new employees, cost of continuing education for current employees, travel costs for meetings and employee lunches.
2. How do you keep your budget organized?
   Our office has an accountant who’s responsible for the budget. Any expense has to first be approved and then submitted to him.  If we are over budget or need to make adjustments there are several people who meet to make these decisions.
3. What is the worst part about the budget?
   Having to make budget cuts and not knowing where to make the cuts. The worst part is when it comes down to letting employees go due to downsizing.
4. What kind of program do you use to help keep you safe while budgeting?
   We use a program called Quickbooks Online.
   5. How often do you review your budget?
   The budget is reviewed monthly.
   6. What protocol do you follow when you find you’re over budget?
   We first determine what area went over budget and why. If possible we make cuts in that area. If it’s not possible to cut back that area, we determine what can be cut with the least amount of resistance.
   7. What are the first things to go when you have to do budget cuts?
   We frequently treat our employees to lunch.  When we have to do budget cuts we tend to first pull from this category. We don’t like to completely cut the budget because this is fun for our employees, but we do cut back when needed.
5. What are your long-term budgeting goals for your company/department?
   The goal for our department this year is to hit 1.5 million net income
6. What are your short-term budgeting goals for you company/department?
   Two of our short term goals this year are to increase our daily sales by 5% and expand service into 3 new states.
7. How much time do you set aside for budgeting?
   I personally spend about 3 hours a month going over with the budgeting team but there is a lot more time put into it than that.

Budgeting for a company sounds painful and complicated.  I personally love finances and I love investing and and planning and every thing with personal finances.  However, I think that budgeting for a company is being a lot more stress and a lot more problems to deal with.  If I go over my personal budget, no biggy, if the company goes over budget that puts so many things at risk.